Informed Scotland September 2017 – Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration

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September was another hectic month of high profile, high level activity, particularly – but not exclusively – involving schools.

The Scottish Government has once again put education centre stage in its plans for the year, in what it describes as a programme of ‘radical reform’.

One of the hottest topics for school governance is the creation of six new Regional Improvement Collaboratives, whose improvement plans are to be ready by January 2018.

In fact, ‘collaboration’ has to be the word of the month:

A report for Interface by BiGGar Economics demonstrated the bottom-line benefits as a result of industry collaborating with academia. Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate set up a Collaborative Working Group to create a new shared inspection framework for early learning & childcare and out of school care settings. Scottish College for Educational Leadership endorsed a Fife Council Teacher Leadership course including collaborative enquiry. Universities and colleges formalised agreements and memoranda of understanding to collaborate with institutions and bodies at home and abroad. And a report for Creative Scotland by BOP Consulting, on how to remove challenges faced by young people in accessing the arts, concluded that ‘collaboration is key’.

September was also packed with numerous important, useful and/or fascinating reports, including:

• a British Council study of young people’s views of education and work
• a Prince’s Trust survey of the value and development of ‘soft skills’
• an exploration of the future of skills and work by Pearson and Nesta plus a prototype skills map
• SQA’s findings from their consultation on National Qualifications with learners and teachers
• the outcomes of the Scottish Parliament Education & Skills Committee inquiry into teacher workforce planning
• a study comparing primary science education in the four UK nations by CFE Research and University of Manchester
• the first statistical Report on Widening Access from Scottish Funding Council
• an economic impact report of the value of college graduates by Fraser of Allander Institute for Colleges Scotland
• and research into young people’s views of their education and training experience by SQW and Young Scot.

And if you are at all interested in improving your cookery skills, check out the new SQA films featuring City of Glasgow College’s famous senior lecturer and MasterChef: The Professionals champion, Gary Maclean!

This is the tip of the learning & skills iceberg… Become an Informed Scotland subscriber so we can keep you on top of all the developments. Email [email protected] to request a sample copy.